"Chris L Peterson" wrote in message
...

On Fri, 9 May 2014 00:11:23 -0700 (PDT), RichA
wrote:

What good is it? With current Apollo-derived rocket technology, it would
take what, 3.5 MILLION years to get to it? IF they'd kept Project Orion
going and kept up development, they could get there in about 600 years.

Humans will never leave the Solar System. It's not going to happen.
What's good about identifying planets similar to Earth is that it
provides targets for more detailed study (that's what all surveys are
for). Looking at systems similar to our own is an important way of
learning more about how the Solar System formed, possibly how life
formed, and what we can expect in the deep future.

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That depends on how you define "human", "life", "intelligence". If we create
artificially intelligent robots they will be as much our children as the
biological kind, but without the failings of emotional hang-ups. Humans will
have evolved. In that sense humans will someday leave the Solar system.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Von_Neumann_machine